I still haven’t worked out what to do when I grow up! I’m mainly a writer, an artist, and a fairytale dressmaker with various crafty hobbies! Here (and on YouTube) I share bits of my life, thoughts, and what I’m learning along the way. Let’s find magic and inspiration; join me for this creative living adventure!

 

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Glastonbury festival wedding dress
Making the Glastonbury Festival bag dress – version 2
June 19, 2019
Wishing Glastonbury Festival isn’t over, on the Monday afternoon when most people have gone home, the kids and I usually take a walk through the festival site. It’s sad to say that some people STILL aren’t taking any notice of the ‘Love the farm; leave no trace’ mantra, and during the years when we were given free tote bags on arrival, unfortunately many were left behind. Rather than let them go into landfill, from 2015 to 2017 I decided to pick up as many as I could carry to turn them into a festival dress…
camera choices for bloggers
Finding the perfect camera system for youtubers, vloggers, bloggers & photographers.
June 17, 2019
Are you a blogger, photographer and vlogger? The big camera question! Do you, or do you not carry two cameras around with you at all times? Are you struggling with choosing which camera you need? I love photography and want to take with me a decent dslr to shoot in raw with a choice of lenses and allow me to take creative photos for my personal enjoyment as well as for my blog. However, I also vlog most of my life for my YouTube channel, and need to carry a camera for that as well. Can we combine them both? What should we do?
Making a fairy dress for Glastonbury Festival ~ Chatting about being cool!
August 12, 2025
Find your cool clothes here!: https://threadsofafairytale.com A sewing video for you this week! I make a pretty fairy dress by upcycling an Indian tunic. I also chat about what it means to be cool - wear what truly feels like you! As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Delivering an art commission ~A mixed media oil painting ~ Photography in Kent ~ A summer concert.
August 5, 2025
Hi! Here's a visit to Kent seeing Jane Mucklow Photography: https://janemucklowphotography.co.uk and her business support and advice is at: https://www.pictureyourbrand.co.uk I also visit the beautiful Riverhill Himalayan Gardens near Sevenoaks and I hand over the abstract floral art commission. I finish a mixed media and oil painting and see an inspiring concert by song writing students. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Starting a big art studio tidy up! And starting a mixed media figure painting.
July 29, 2025
Hello! This week I get started on a big tidying up and sorting out session of my art studio. I begin a mixed media figure painting in a fairytale style. I try and sort out the lighting in my studio, and end up sewing voile for a net curtain; and I do a quick figure drawing using Derwent Graphitint blocks and pencils. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Styling a hippy maxi dress
Styling a hippy maxi dress
May 20, 2019
I bought this dress from a magic shop under the shadow of a pirate castle in Lanzarote when we were on holiday last year. By that I mean that it was one of those shops with a tiny front and a little plank door and you have to duck low to get inside. Then you find the shop is massive and goes back and back and back until it comes out onto another street entirely. Anyway, it was from there, but if you want to try and hunt it out out, the label says Elora…..
Glastonbury Festival site panoramic photo
Glastonbury Festival site, Panoramic photo 3, 2019
May 14, 2019
It’s fun to see the second team of fence builders have started on the opposite side of the Glastonbury Festival site this morning – it amazes me how they manage to make it meet – I suppose they must stop at an entrance gate. Anyway, I’m a bit embarrassed to confess that the tall tower in my Instagram Story yesterday, I think is just an electricity pylon that’s always there! It just looked different from a different angle and in the evening sunlight! The scaffolding construction though is definitely new….
official Outlander outfit
Styling khaki check / tartan for spring – an Outlander outfit
May 14, 2019
Have you seen the Starz Outlander series on telly? Or read the books by Diana Gabaldon? Chris and I have watched the four series through twice, and have begun to listen to the audio books in the car on our little jaunts around the country! When a clothing catalogue from the company EMP came through the door last November and I was browsing through for Christmas presents for the kids, I literally squealed in delight when I saw a page full of official Outlander clothing!….
Painting a fairy! A magical mixed media and oil painting ~ Art studio catch-up ~ Pottery throwing
July 22, 2025
Hello! This week I paint a pretty fairy picture with mixed media and oil paint. There's also some flower photography, art varnishing, framing, some new water mixable oil paint purchases, and some pottery throwing! As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
A fairytale painting - finishing with oil paint ~ A trip to Yorkshire
July 15, 2025
For exclusive (free) videos, please subscribe to my newsletter: https://helenhobden.substack.com/subscribe I'll be sending out a video of our USA road trip very soon, and the full Yorkshire trip once I've edited it! This week I finish the fairytale painting with oils, and also do some more tweaking of the other two paintings in my key series. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Beginning a new mixed media fairytale painting ~ Finishing abstract florals in oil paint
July 8, 2025
Hi! Lots of art in this video! I begin a new mixed media painting with a dark fairytale feel, and I finish the large abstract floral with oil paint. There's also a little garden update. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
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